For RPG players who are belong to the hack and slash sub-genre, Diablo players raise their hands, Axion is a game for you. It offers plenty of questing and side questing, but Axion is a hack and slash at heart. The graphics are eye catching and the music sound epic, but it's the ability to customize your own combo attacks that will sure elevate Axion to one of the best RPGs for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Gameplay

Axion only has one game mode which is story mode. The story starts about 500 years after the main character, Axion, defeats his nemesis, Balinor. Now Axion is summoned by the gods and becomes aware that Balinor has resurrected. So Axion must once again stop Lord Balinor. At the start of the game, you must choose from four attributes for your character, and after that you pick three characteristics for that character. From then on you can go on quests or side-quests and slash through enemies to get EXP. After getting a certain amount of EXP, the character will level up. Thus starts the traditional RPG cycle.

As you level up, your character will get some stat points. These can be used to make one of the three characteristics better. You will also be given skill points, which are used to improve your skills stats. The ability to make your own attack combo is probably what makes Axion a very unique game. Instead of the same and repetitive combos that can get boring very fast, you have the ability to customize them. This allows you to be the type of fighter you wish to become: a light and quick attacker or a slow powerful attacker or you can be an all-star and put a bit of each.

Axion offers many typical RPG enemies like goblins that bomb you or wolfs that are determined to hunt you down. In fact the first boss happens to be a gigantic ogre who is sent by Balinor to kill you. The enemies have a fair amount of AI, though the first boss was too weak and pathetic with the same combos and lazy attacks. To help you fend off legions of monster, Axion offer only 2 simple weapons. You first start out with a sword and later on you get a crossbow, as the game put a lot of fighting weight on making your own omega combos, like Triple Shot, Double shot, Back leap Shot, and Front leap shot. For an RPG, Axion has a very length gameplay with many quests and side quests. The controls look good but I found them a bit too small. Unlike Zenonia 2, Axion doesn?t allow players to customize the D-pad size and transparency.

Graphics

The graphics look great in Axion, similar to the graphics in Zenonia RPG series, though Axion has a straightforward sharp anime style instead of the chibi style graphics in Zenonia. Both characters and monsters are well designed and the environments in different levels have varied and sharp look to them. Menu screens and in-game action combo screens all look very polished. If you are a classic RPG fan that liked Zelda or Golden Sun, you will feel right at home with Axion?s worlds, characters and all that?s drawn and colored in the game.

Sound

As far as using music to help creative a fantasy world in an RPG, Axion is one of the best we?ve seen. Every price of music goes with the theme of the game and represents the mood and environment. In the village the music sounds like what you would expect, peaceful; when you are in a place infested with monsters the music sounds dark and dreary. The tracks sounds original and fantastic, and the sound FX works well with the game. There is a slight disconnection: if your iDevice goes to sleep while the game is running, when you wake it up, the music will take a minute or two to get back on track.

Conclusion

If you are a fan of RPGs of Zelda, Golden Sun or Zenonia lineage, then Axion is a perfect addition for your RPG library. At the introductory price of $2.99 the game is a steal! Buy it now before the price goes up.

Ratings (scale of 1 to 5):

Graphics: - 5 - Excellent looking graphics which will be appealing to Zenonia fans.Sound: - 5 - Great songs that fit in with surroundings and if you get bored then play your own music. Controls: - 4 - D-pad is kind of small so it is hard to move.Gameplay: - 5 - Epic story line with evil villains and demonic monsters.

Playing Hints and Tips:

Always keep lots of potions and try to use ranged attacks in case you don't want to get hurt.